Israel to build nuclear power plant?
Hmmm.... According to the report, Israel is not capable of carrying out such a project on its own — and therefore it would have to purchase a reactor as an “off-the-shelf product” from one of the prominent manufacturers in the market, such as the French company AREVA or the American company Westinghouse.I know. Why not just build an island in the Mediterranean? Didn't Shimon Peres want to do that once upon a time? Heh.
The Infrastructure Ministry and Israel Electric Corporation are already preparing to build a nuclear power plant: The Israel Atomic Energy Commission is currently conducting, together with the Infrastructure Ministry, a joint feasibility study for building nuclear reactors for producing electricity in Israel. The results of the study are due to be published at the start of 2011, and will address all the aspects related to nuclear power plants: Safety, economic profitability, new technologies in the field and geopolitical aspects.
Besides the option of building the plant as an ex-territorial entity, the possibility has arisen of building a nuclear power plant in the Indian format — in other words, without signing the NPT. India is not a signatory of the NPT, and has conducted a public nuclear test, but it enables international supervision of its civilian nuclear facilities. The Israel Atomic Energy Commission has announced that it would enable supervision of such a power plant by international agencies, and the prime minister discussed such a possibility with US President Barack Obama.
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Yitzhak Gurvitz of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission added that “we shouldn’t be frightened of nuclear energy.” He said that one of the problems is fiscal: “We’re talking about billions of dollars to build reactors that will generate a few thousand megawatts of electricity.” The Infrastructure Ministry is now trying to solve an additional problem that Gurvitz pointed to — the fact that Israel isn’t a signatory to the NPT.
Dr. Ilan Yaar of the Negev Nuclear Research Center in Dimona suggested at the conference that Israel buy a off-the-shelf reactor “that has already been approved and is, therefore, safe.” He said that that the current problem is political, but can be solved through through an ex-territorial zone or a joint Israeli-Jordanian reactor. “The condition for both these solutions is serious progress towards a peace agreement,” said Yaar.
Another problem discussed is the unwillingness of countries to sell Israel off-the-shelf reactors. Professor Dubi offered a solution: “Israel should publish a tender, oriented towards the Russians and Chinese, for purchase of the knowledge necessary to plan and build a nuclear reactor. The the Americans will run after us — because the Russian and Chinese reactors are less safe.”
Labels: Israel, nuclear power plant, Nuclear Proliferation Treaty
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:16 AM
3 Comments:
Israel's electricity needs could be supplied by two nuclear reactors. That would make the country energy self-sufficient in most respects. The only question would be where to site the new plants.
Please! No unreliable Russian nuke plants.
The Chinese, while producing their own, still crave for US, French and S. Korean reactor designs. Take a hint from China and don't buy Chinese.
Frankly, I'm surprised we can't do this on our own.
why don't you recommend to buy an Argentinean reactor???
i know what Argentina did with the recognition of the imaginary state of "palestine" it's really embarrasing, but for what i know, Argentina has been exporting nuclear reactors (i think the last buyer was Australia)... and the government really need the money (for their pockets ofcourse).
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